Technological Seizure

October 26, 1985

PARIS — A flick of a switch. Voila! Twenty-four million telephone numbers were converted Friday night to a simpler dialing system that cuts the number of zones from 70 to two. ''The world is watching us. It is the biggest such operation ever conducted,'' said Louis Mexandeau, minister for the Post and Telecommunications Authority. The French telephone system has not been noted for high technology. Not too long ago it sometimes was impossible to get a call through. It sometimes was impossible even to get a phone. The new numbering system was made necessary by growth. It cost $600 million.